


Cast Out The Shadows

by Kailyr



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora is in love, Canon Continuation, Catra doesn't know how to be loved, F/F, Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)'s A+ Parenting, not an au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:41:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26644675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kailyr/pseuds/Kailyr
Summary: Everyone knows what happens after.Your soul returns to Etheria. Your body feeds the ground. The tears of those who mourn you nourish the earth. And so you give back to the land which birthed you.There was no something after.Which only made her continued existence all the more infuriating.OR: Adora is in love, Catra suffers, and I've decided that Shadow Weaver doesn't get to die until she feels guilt and shame. S5 continuation.
Relationships: Adora & Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Catra & Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written in years, but I've been working on this since s5 dropped. More tags to be added later when I figure out how the tagging system works. Please let me know if you're interested or have any feedback to provide. This is a sort of prologue and is written this way for dramatic effect and does not reflect how later chapters will be written. If you have any advice or think I should change the tags/archive warnings etc, please do let me know!
> 
> I am uploading this on mobile so the formatting may be wack for a little while.

"You're Welcome."

Smugness, overwhelming self-satisfaction in the face of acceptance. _This is the only way_. A sharp feeling curling through her chest at wide eyes and tears. _I win. This time I win. No-one can deny me this._

Pain.

Pain.

Pain.

The thumping of a heart.

Hers?

How long has it been?

Darkness is no stranger to her. For years it has been an all encompassing shield. Safe. Suffocating. Sweet. Her saviour and her damnation. It was in the Darkness she was reborn. New. Better. Stronger. It led her to power beyond what those fools could comprehend. It led her to the Horde. It led her to the Runestone. It led her to the Child. It led her... astray.

For so long the Darkness had been a parasite living within her. Pushing her towards Great Power, feeding on that which remains of Her. An empty shell, hollowed by betrayal and held together by shadows and rage. _She_ was alone. But _She_ did not have the Darkness.

Once again she is surrounded by a darkness. And she is alone again.

There is nothing but a silence in her head where once there were whispers, a coldness cloaking her body where once there was the warmth of magic rippling beneath her skin. Silence. It has been so long since she has known silence, it is alien, and fills her with a feeling more foreign than that of being alone: fear. She did not feel fear in the moments before her death, but she feels it now in the after.

A numb and heavy hand rises. _Oh_. Her eyes are already open, there is just nothing to see. _Am I blind_ she wonders. You have been, a voice replies. A voice she knows well, for it is her own.

It starts as a pinprick at the corner of her vision, a slowly expanding dim light. Even the dimmest light is blinding in the darkness, forcing her eyes shut. Her hands press tightly across her face. The raised skin of her scars are so cold it burns her hands to hold them there, but pain has never been a stranger to her so hold them there she does.

How long she stands there, face masked by her own hands, in the silence and the darkness, she does not know.

_All things must come to an end._

Shadow Weaver drops her hands and opens her eyes. The only noise is the thumping of her own blood through her body and the gasp that escapes her own mouth. The cavern, empty. The beast has disappeared, as if the creature had never even existed. But the scorch marks remain, along with collapsed pillars, crushed rock, and deep grooves that stretch along the floors expanse. A tingle of magic still lingers in the air.

There is a crunch beneath her feet as she steps back. A spider web of cracks dance across a red and black surface, as the edges of the faniliar mask begin to crumble.

She has to look away.

The realization that she still lingers begins to set in.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AN: some actual catradora in this fic I've tagged adora/catra in. I've actually split what I was going to include in this chapter into 2. 
> 
> Breaking News: Adora is in love.

Hour 80, After Prime. Late evening.

It takes them two full days of travelling to make it back to Brightmoon as a group, collecting displaced civilians and dropping them off at settlements and towns, helping move rubble and clearing roadblocks along the way, and generally spreading the good news. The war is over.

The war is over.

 _It's over_.

It doesn't feel real. Thoughts of what happens next, who needs help, where needs rebuilding, what does she need to do, sweep through Adora's head as she begins to make a list, cataloging and prioritising. There's so much, where to even begin?

She feels overwhelmed.

This isn't a new feeling for Adora. Being overwhelmed, feeling out of control. She's spent her entire life being told what do and where to go, paddling against the tide of expectations. The demand for greatness. The more she achieves, the bigger the risks if she fails. Adora is not allowed to fail.

Needless to say, overwhelmed is the baseline state for which Adora's life revolves around.

Not for the first time, Adora finds herself wondering if she's the only one who has to deal with this ever-present twisting-tightness in her chest. It seems like it sometimes.

Thinking about it, she wonders if there has ever been a time where she hasn't felt overwhelmed. That's what relaxing is supposed to be, right? Sure, she's had fleeting moments that were something like flirting with the idea of relaxation. Those temporary scenes that were immediately followed by an attack. How could Adora ever relax when every moment spent doing so was shadowed by danger? She can't even remember the last time she felt- well, except...

_Waking up to soft fur under her fingertips, weight across her chest, velvety soft ears pressed against her neck and jaw, hand gently kneading her abdomen, the tickling hint of claws pressing through the worn threads of her jacket._

Adora finds herself tripping over a step as the memory of waking up with Catra curled against her chest causes a flood of warmth to rush through her.

Quickly righting herself, Adora smooths down her jacket and clears her throat as she attempts to regain control of her body. She glances to her left to check if Catra had noticed her stumble. Seeing those blue and yellow eyes gazing straight back at her makes her face feel aflame and her heart begins to beat even faster in her chest.

"You're, uh, happy to be home, I guess," Catra comments. There's a look on her face that Adora can't place. She's trying to keep a neutral expression, but Adora can see it peeking through in the tightness of her eyes, the way her ears fall low on her head, how her fingers grip at her crossed arms, nails digging in.

Catra stops walking, causing Adora's eyes to snap up once again to meet that feline gaze. "Huh?" Adora asks, mouth working before her brain can catch up. _Oh right, responding, I didn't-_

"Your uh... it's..." Catra starts and stops, before deciding to simply nod her head towards Adora, eyes falling to the blondes chest.

Through the open collar of Adora's signature jacket, a dim glow has begun to shine through her shirt.

Raising a hand to her chest, Adora looks down and wonders at the pulsing heat that flickers beneath her palm. There's a whisper of sensation that twists around her fingers, magic itself clinging to her. Unlike before, when the failsafe was a threat branded into her skin, a burning ice-cold reminder of a predetermined destiny she had no say in, now it is a comforting warmth, soothing against her tired and aching body.

Adora glances up at Brightmoon Castle sprawling before her and turns back to Catra. She finds herself trying to determine whether the throb beneath her palm originated from her own heart beating out of her chest, or the magical brand upon it. In the back of her mind, a voice whispers _we are one in the same, now_ and somehow Adora knows it to be true.

Catra has turned away again, body tense and eyes fixed ahead, eyes flickering around the extravagant scenery. Her tail lashes violently behind her.

A soft smile begins to dawn Adora's face, a certainty creeping in. _Ha, who's the idiot now, Catra_.

"I am," Adora speaks gently, stepping closer, "so happy to be home." One hand reaches out for a partner to hold, and the other rises from her chest to slide its way across Catra's cheek.

Catra's eyes fall closed at the sensation with a sigh, face turning into Adora's palm. They stand there in the silence of the night for a moment, foreheads together and breathing in one another, before reality intervenes and an angry "SEAHAWK, NO!" echoes through the night.

With a growl and visible frustration, Catra pulls back to scowl at the commotion, where the majority of the rest of the travelling party were congregated.

Sea Hawk stands, ankle deep in a deactivated fountain, for some reason, holding a recently alight torch downwards with a dejected expression. Around him is the still steaming evidence that the fire had not been contained to only his torch and his heart, but also the immediate grounds and several people, if Perfuma's horrified expression and singed clothing was anything to go by.

Several people had been dowsed in stale and scum-filled water from the fountain, and Adora couldn't help the short bark of laughter that escaped her as she watched Mermista draw the water back from their friends and fling it at Sea Hawk, toppling him over in the fountain.

Glimmer turns around at this and catches Adora's eye, waving her hand at the scene and sending Adora an inquisitive expression. _Are you going to get in on this?_ Glimmer is asking. With a wide grin and a quick look back to the irritated cat girl yawning beside her, _Nah_ she replies, shaking her head. Glimmer shrugs back, _suit yourself_ , and turns back to their friends.

"C'mon," Adora says, spinning around to face the castle and grabbing Catra's hand. "Let's escape before someone needs us for something."


End file.
